#TellHisStory: Coffee Time Lessons

"I am the Alpha and the Omega,” 
says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, 
and who is to come, the Almighty."  
Revelations 1:8

"It is 29 today,"  My daughter and I were sharing coffee in the office again this morning.

"Mmm...Twenty-nine, what?"

A smile crept onto her face.  "April.  It is 29.  Tomorrow is April 30."

"Yes," I said, after a quick check of my desktop calendar.  "Today is April 29th; tomorrow is the 30th."

Bigger smile, on her face and in her voice...  "May 1st, tomorrow..."

I love the way she thinks, sometimes.  She really does understand the passage of days and days of the week.  She gets that there's a day after tomorrow, and a day before yesterday.  But those are either details she doesn't want to waste her time with, or something between the thinking and the saying gets confused and comes out wrong.  I know what she's working her way up to - in this conversation.  Her birthday is in May.  She's been telling us that her birthday is getting closer.  Telling us on a daily basis - morning and night.  I'm guessing that birthday is pretty important to her...

"No, honey.  It's April 30th tomorrow.  May is the day after tomorrow.  But it's coming..."

Just when I think her smile can't get any bigger...

She starts counting on her fingers.  "April, May, June - "

Oops!  She passed right by that birthday month.

"July, August, September."  And she stops and looks at me.  "Kali and Rachel - babies in September."

Oh my!  It's not her birthday this morning.  It's anticipation for her cousin and my friend.  They are going to have babies in September.  Exciting for them, and apparently exciting for my daughter.  Something to look forward to - something to count time for.  Like birthdays.

My daughter teaches me so much.  When the calendar date and the simple passage of days, just counting forward, brings a smile to someone's face, as it does hers, then it seems to me she holds a kind of secret.  Maybe I can learn that secret, learn to enjoy these moments - even enjoy dates as they march by - toward something exciting.  It's not really as much a countdown, as it is a countoff.  This day is here, tomorrow is next, and then, according to my daughter, tomorrow again...

I wonder, sometimes, about God and time.  Time kind of fascinates me - the concept of moving forward or backward in time - the idea of multiple timelines.  I've had just enough physics and calculus to get myself in trouble trying to-kind-of-sort-of understand the theory behind a sum of histories - how multiple possibilities can all exist at the same moment -  I think God exists in all the possibilities.  I think His nature is way beyond our ability to understand - He lives out of time - out of physical space and distance - out of the rules and regulations of science.  Faith is our connection to God's reality.  Faith that what we can't and don't understand, still occurs.  Still exists.   Like my daughter's tomorrow.  And the day after.

Amazingly, God - this awesome God who exists in all possibilities - speaks to us.  Through prophets, through scripture, through circumstance and whispers.  Through the words of our children.  He lets us know that we can look forward to something.  Something exciting.  Something that's worth a countoff.  Not a countdown; we don't know when it's coming - but it will be here.  Before we know it.  And in the meantime - He gives us little gifts - every day.  We can enjoy the moments...the dates as they go by.  Like my daughter does.

Thank you, God, for the gift of days and moments.  Help me to find the joy in them;  help me to look forward with anticipation and excitement.

Again - from the Archives
Linking with Jennifer at TellHisStory, and Beth at Three Word Wednesday

Coffee Time - Rain

My daughter is awake.  "Rain, again?"  Her tone suggests that she, too, is tired of the gray.  "I hate it, the rain."  She sits at my desk with her coffee.

"We need the rain.  It helps the grass and flowers grow.  We need the water.  You shouldn't hate the rain.  God gave it to us.  The trees need rain.  The rain will make everything green again.  You'll see, soon it will be green."  I don't like to hear my daughter say hate.  It seems somehow profane, coming from her.  Too strong - too dark - too passionate.  I'm not sure why I'm surprised, though.  She is a black and white girl...

"Ok, rain is ok," she takes a sip from her cup.  "It is Spring.  My shorts..."  My daughter is a summer child.  She loves warm weather - even hot weather.  Skin.  She would wear shorts year-round if she could.  Shorts, sandals, and tank tops.  Pointing to her bare arms with one of her Sierra smiles, she shows me her skin.

"Not today, Honey.  It's still cold.  Spring is next week.  It's not time for your shorts, yet."  We had a beautiful, warm spring-like day last week.  Sierra took it upon herself to switch out her winter and summer clothes (girl after my heart - they are hanging in order by color...).

We compromise.  Shorts are out, but short-sleeves are ok.  Boots, no - sandals and tennis shoes, yes.  I have to draw the line at the dress she plans to wear to church on Sunday.  It's a spaghetti strap number that worked fine with a Texas Easter, but just won't work for March in Virginia.

"I love it, the purple dress", she insists.

"I know you do.  I love it, too.  It looks very pretty on you.  But, Sweetie, it's going to be cold on Sunday."

"No, it is Spring."

"Yes, it will be Spring, but it will be cold.  You can wear the purple dress when it gets warmer.  You might want to think about wearing pants on Sunday.  It's going to be cold."

She actually turns her head away when she doesn't want to hear something.  It's a signal.  She's full - she needs to process.   It's time to change the subject.  Redirect.   Soon she reaches for her coffee again.

"I love it, the Spring."

"Me too."

You know, sometimes you just have to accept - it is what it is.  Rain is here.  Spring is coming.  We may not like the rain, but we like it's results.  Sometimes you have to go through stuff you don't like to get to the stuff you do... Like rainy days.  Hmmm...

Office Time

We're up early this morning - as always...  My husband's alarm goes off at 3:45 - I usually fall out of bed around 3:53 (I know, how is that around...).  Put on the exercise shoes, make the bed, and go down the stairs for a yummy cup of coffee.  He leaves around 4:15ish.  Then my daughter comes down the stairs for her coffee....and we share office time.  I'm usually on the computer - catching up on Facebook and mail.  She gets her bible out and starts reading.  I wonder - who raised this girl???

Well, the fact of the matter is - I did, with a lot divine intervention and help from family and friends....

A little background here.  My daughter has Down Syndrome.  She is amazing!  I have yet to truly know all she understands - she has some communication challenges - but what she shows me through her words and actions, makes me think she understands the world around her more deeply than I can imagine.  She is extremely empathetic.  She gives me hugs and backrubs - even when I'm trying to keep something bottled up - she knows... She is brave.  I watched her in a first meeting with a new youth group - full of tightly-knit high schoolers.  She was nervous; she was a little unsure.  But she smiled and persevered, nodded and smiled some more until they were smiling right along with her.  She is honest and lives her life with integrity.  I see it as purity of spirit.  She is every contestent and judge on American Idol; she is the winning team on Survivor; she is the librarian in our office; she is trainer-girl for our dog; she is Dr. SC; she is police girl from Rookie Blue.  Quite honestly, I can't always keep up with her.

That's why our office time is so special.  Today we were looking over her Facebook page.  I just opened one for her - with trepidation and prayer....  I set the security as tightly as I could.  (Isn't it sad that such an amazing technology for social interaction can be so potentially abused...)  So I check up on the page daily.  Today we posted pictures from her previous youth group, and added the organization to her page.  She was telling me all about the pictures as I went through my photo files to post.  Naming names and activities...  Telling me how she missed them.  Telling me what they were feeling at the time the pictures were taken - things I'd forgotten or not noticed at the time...  I love this time together, when I get to better know and understand my girl.

I asked what she was reading about in her bible.  She told me Jonathan.  I asked her what about Jonathan?  She said he was a good friend.  Need I say more???